Psychometric properties of the extended Care Dependency Scale for older persons in Egypt

Abstract

Aim. The aim of this study was to determine the validity and reliability of the modified Arabic Care Dependency Scale for selfassessment of older persons in Egypt and to compare these self-assessments to proxy assessments by care givers and family members. Background. The Care Dependency Scale is an internationally used instrument to measure care dependency. The Arabic version may improve data collection on this phenomenon in the Middle East where the population is ageing. Design. A cross-sectional study with a sample of 611 older persons living in Greater Cairo. Participants belonged to three groups: nursing home residents, home care recipients and non-care recipients; 459 participants were also rated by proxies and 171 repeated their self-assessment after two weeks. Methods. The correlation between sum scores of the Care Dependency Scale and the Activities of Daily Living scale was calculated to establish criterion validity. Construct validity was determined by comparing care recipients and non-care recipients with regard to their Care Dependency Scale sum scores and by exploratory factor analysis. Intraclass coefficients were used to assess test-retest reliability of self-ratings for each item. Mean differences between self and proxy assessment were calculated. Results. The Care Dependency Scale had a strong correlation to the Activities of Daily Living scale and is able to distinguish between care recipients and non-care recipients. Factor analysis revealed one factor for basic needs and one factor for psychosocial needs. ICC values were >0AE7 for most items related to the factor for basic needs among care recipients. Proxy assessment yielded higher care dependency than self assessment. Conclusion. Care Dependency Scale items for basic needs are suitable to assess care dependency among Egyptian care recipients. Relevance to clinical practice. Assessment of care dependency is useful to obtain data for appropriate resource allocation among care recipients.Key words: Activities of Daily Living, Arabic translation, care dependency, Egypt, older persons, psychometric study population. For the year 2050, this life expectancy is estimated to reach 75AE2 years for men and 79AE4 years for women (ESCWA 2007). An increasing number of people aged 60 and above will be associated with an increase of disabilities and ensuing care dependency. Based on data from the Global Burden of Disease Study on severe levels of disability and the calculation of population projections, Harwood et al. (2004) predict an increasing number of care dependent people in the Middle East. They demand, however, improved data collection on this issue. Such data are required for an appropriate allocation of nursing services for older persons in these countries. To date there is still a scarcity of such information.

The Care Dependency Scale for measuring basic human needs: an international comparison

“…This may reflect a heterogeneous population and cultural difference in the perception of care dependency in Turkey compared to the notion of this concept in the other participating countries. Boggatz et al. (2009) mentioned another explanation in his study about the psychometric properties of the CDS among older Egyptians.…”

Prevalence of mobility disabilities in nursing home residents and the association with age, BMI, fall risk and social participation

“…[38] Therefore, it is now used internationally [39] and has been adapted accordingly. [40][41][42] Since there is no clear definition of the social participation of residents, [43] it was analogous to Gilmour's [44] and described as daily physical activities, activities in contact with family or friendships, and recreational activities involving other people. Therefore, the synonyms in the CDS instrument, the items daily activities, recreational activities, and contact with others were used as a data basis for the quantification of the social participation of the participants.…”

Responsiveness of the Care Dependency Scale for Rehabilitation (CDS‐R)

“…One instrument, the Care Dependency Scale could be a good alternative to existing instruments such as the Barthel Index (9) because it focuses not only on physical aspects but also on psycho‐social ones. The Care Dependency Scale is a short assessment which has been demonstrated to be valid and reliable in several settings, languages and versions (13–26) and is therefore used in clinical practice. Nurses started to use the scale to document, show and analyse patients’ changes over time in terms of care dependency, especially in rehabilitation.…”